India has not imposed any export ban on COVID-19 vaccines: MEA

The Indian government on April 2 once again clarified that India, unlike many other countries, has not put any ban on exports of the coronavirus vaccines. Arindam Bagchi, MEA spokesperson denied any ban on the export of COVID-19 vaccines to other countries and informed that the nation, so far, has rather supplied vaccines to more than 80 countries across the globe. 

It is worth noting that the shipments of the COVID-19 vaccine from Serum Institute to Canada have been put on hold for an unspecified period as the nation has decided to focus on meeting the domestic needs for the jabs due to a surge in coronavirus cases. Joelle Paquette, the director-general of the Procurement Support Services Sector in Canada said that they are expecting a delay in the shipment. However, Paquette noted that Serum Institute has committed Canada to meet its contractual obligations.

‘India will continue to supply vaccines’ 

Meanwhile, Bagchi’s comments come after ANI sources last week had also said that India’s position remains unchanged in relation to supplying the vaccine to partner countries in a phased manner while keeping in mind the domestic requirement of a phased rollout. Reminiscing the time India began with its domestic COVID vaccination programme, and how it turned to external supply in a short duration, the sources affirmed that no other country has supplied the world with as many doses as India has so far. Soon after the purchase orders were placed, India also began with its COVAX facility, the sources had said.

They had even informed that more than 60 million doses of Made in India vaccines have been supplied to over 75 countries, including through COVAX. They said that the nation will continue to supply the COVID-19 vaccine to partner countries over the coming weeks and months. “This position remains unchanged. We have not imposed any ban on exports of vaccines unlike many other countries,” they said. 

Vaccine Maitri 

India's Vaccine Maitri programme that was started around two months ago, aims to help poor countries amid the global pandemic. In this brief period, the country has got delivered around six crore doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech's indigenous vaccine to over 75 countries. Many countries have praised India for its efforts in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines across the world. India will likely be in a better position to export vaccinations when the other vaccines which are mostly in their lap of approval hit the market. 

(With inputs from ANI)